Fujifilm X20 versus Sony A5000

The Fujifilm X20 and the Sony Alpha A5000 are two digital cameras that were announced, respectively,
in January 2013 and January 2014. The X20 is a fixed lens compact, while the A5000 is a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. The cameras are based on a 2/3 (X20) and an APS-C (A5000) sensor. The Fujifilm has a resolution of 12 megapixel, whereas the Sony provides 19.8 MP. Read on to find out how these two cameras compare with respect to their size, their sensors, their features, and their reception by expert reviewers.

Body comparison: Fujifilm X20 vs Sony A5000

The side-by-side display below illustrates the physical size and weight of the Fujifilm X20 and the Sony A5000. The two cameras are presented according to their relative size. Three successive views from the front, the top, and the rear are shown. All size dimensions are rounded to the nearest millimeter. You can also toggle the display to switch to a percentage comparison if you prefer that the measures are being expressed in relative terms (in this case, the camera on the left – the X20 – represents the basis or 100 percent across all the size and weight measures).

If the front view area (width x height) of the cameras is taken as an aggregate measure of their size,
the Sony A5000 is notably smaller (15 percent) than the Fujifilm X20. In this context, it is worth noting that neither the X20 nor the A5000 are weather-sealed.

The above size and weight comparisons are to some extent incomplete and possibly misleading, as the X20 has a lens build in,
whereas the A5000 is an interchangeable lens camera that requires a separate lens. Attaching the latter will add extra weight and bulk to the setup. You can find an overview of optics for the A5000 and their specifications in the Sony E-Mount Lens Catalog.

Concerning battery life, the X20 gets 270 shots out of its NP-50 battery,
while the A5000 can take 420 images on a single charge of its NP-FW50 power pack.

The table below summarizes the key physical specs of the two cameras alongside a broader set of comparators. If you would like to visualize and compare a different camera combination, just use the right or left
arrows in the table to switch to the respective camera. Alternatively, you can also navigate to the CAM-parator app and
make your selection from the full list of cameras there.

The price is, of course, an important factor in any camera decision. The manufacturer’s suggested retail prices give an idea on the placement of the camera in the maker’s lineup and the broader market. Usually, retail prices stay at first close to the launch price, but after several months, discounts become available. Later in the product cycle and, in particular, when the replacement model is about to appear, further discounting and stock clearance sales often push the camera price considerably down.

Sensor comparison: Fujifilm X20 vs Sony A5000

The size of the sensor inside a digital camera is one of the key determinants of image quality. A large sensor will tend to have larger individual pixels that provide better low-light sensitivity, wider dynamic range, and richer color-depth than smaller pixel-units in a sensor of the same technological generation. Furthermore, a large sensor camera will give the photographer more possibilities to use shallow depth-of-field in order to isolate a subject from the background. On the downside, larger sensors tend to be associated with larger, more expensive camera bodies and lenses.

Of the two cameras under consideration, the Fujifilm X20 features a 2/3 sensor and the Sony A5000
an APS-C sensor. The sensor area in the A5000 is 516 percent bigger. As a result of these sensor size differences, the cameras have a format factor of, respectively, 3.9 and 1.5. The sensor in the X20 has a native 4:3 aspect ratio, while the one in the A5000 offers a 3:2 aspect.

With 19.8MP, the A5000 offers a higher
resolution than the X20 (12MP), but the A5000 nevertheless has larger individual pixels (pixel pitch of
4.25μm versus 2.20μm for the X20) due to its larger sensor. Moreover, the A5000 is a somewhat more recent model (by 1 year) than the X20, and its sensor
might have benefitted from technological advances during this time that further enhance the light gathering capacity of its pixel-units. Coming back to sensor resolution, it should be mentioned that the X20 has no anti-alias filter installed, so that it can capture all the detail its sensor resolves.

The X20 has on-sensor phase detect pixels, which results in relatively fast and reliable autofocus acquisition during video recording.

For many cameras, data on sensor performance has been reported by DXO Mark. This service assesses and scores the color depth ("DXO Portrait"), dynamic range ("DXO Landscape"), and low-light sensitivity ("DXO Sports") of camera sensors, and also publishes an overall camera score. The adjacent table reports on the physical sensor characteristics and the outcomes of the DXO sensor quality tests for a sample of comparator-cameras.

Many modern cameras are not only capable of taking still images, but also of capturing video footage. Both cameras under consideration are equipped with sensors that have a sufficiently high read-out speed for moving images, but the X20 provides a higher frame rate than the A5000. It can shoot video footage at 1080/60p, while the Sony is limited to 1080/60i.

Feature comparison: Fujifilm X20 vs Sony A5000

Apart from body and sensor, cameras can and do differ across a range of features. For example, the X20 has an optical viewfinder, which can be very useful when shooting in bright sunlight.
In contrast, the A5000 relies on live view and the rear LCD for framing. The table below summarizes some of the other core capabilities of the Fujifilm X20 and Sony A5000 in connection with corresponding information for a sample of similar cameras. If you need more detail on the specs, you can find comprehensive listings, for example, in the dpreview camera hub.

If the count of relative strengths (bullet points above) is taken as a measure, the A5000 is the clear winner of the contest (14 : 9 points). However, the relative importance of the various individual camera aspects will vary according to personal preferences and needs, so that you might like to apply corresponding weights to the particular features before making a decision on a new camera.

X20 09:14 A5000

In any case, while the specs-based evaluation of cameras is instructive in revealing their potential as photographic tools, it remains partial and cannot reveal, for example, the handling experience and imaging performance when actually working with the X20 or the A5000. At times, user reviews, such as those published at amazon, address these issues in a useful manner, but such feedback is on many occasions incomplete, inconsistent, and unreliable. This is where reviews by experts come in. The adjacent table relays the overall verdicts of several of the most popular camera review sites (cameralabs, dpreview, ephotozine, imaging-resource, photographyblog). You can find the full text of the reviews by clicking on the site logo in the table header.

The review scores listed above should be treated with care, though. The assessments were made in relation to similar cameras of the same technological generation. Hence, a score should always be seen in the context of the camera's market launch date and its price, and comparing ratings of very distinct cameras or ones that are far apart in terms of their release date have little meaning. Also, please note that some of the review sites have changed their methodology and reporting over time.

Other camera comparisons

Did this review help to inform your camera decision process? If you would like to see a different side-by-side camera review, just use the search menu below. There is also a set of direct links to comparison reviews that other users of the CAM-parator app explored. If you do not see the camera that you are looking for, kindly get in touch, and I will try to update the database with the necessary infos.